Friday, June 24, 2011

Remnants of Islamic, Coptic buildings discovered in Luxor

An Egyptian expedition team working in Luxor discovered remnants of ancient Islamic and Coptic buildings, the Ministry of Antiquities announced Wednesday.

The remnants include churches, minarets and domes and are located in the Luxor Temple area along the Avenue of the Sphinxes, according to a ministry statement.

The team found remains of an ancient church that dates back to the Ptolemaic era (AD 5), built with stone blocks typical of ancient temples. The church reflects the style of ancient Egyptian architecture in its stone cornices, columns and ceiling vault.

As for the Islamic monuments, the expedition team found the authentic architrave of a mosque called al-Muqashqash, as well as the minaret and dome of another mosque, Abul Hajjaj.

The dates are rather confusing: Ptolemaic era AD 5 and Christian era at the same time? The Ptolemies were history by AD 5. The Christian influence in Egypt probably did not begin much before AD 70. The earliest Nag Hammadi Gospel fragments are from later.

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This blog was set up in 2004 to aggregate news about Egyptology and related topics from online sources on a regular basis. It was closed finally in September 2013 due to other commitments. It has been left open as an archive, but comments have been disabled.